


Branded by Love

by Majsasaurus



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bittersweet Ending, Blood and Injury, Dystopia, F/M, Fighting, Fluff, Jinchuuriki-centric, Love, Shinobi Politics, Tailed Beasts, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:35:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22351186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majsasaurus/pseuds/Majsasaurus
Summary: Shikamaru occasionally fails.Like he failed to assassinate Temari even though it was his mission.Like he failed to return to Konoha after that and stayed instead in Suna with Temari as war broke out.Like he failed to stop Shikadai from becoming the next jinchuuriki of the Sand.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Temari
Comments: 35
Kudos: 61





	1. PROLOGUE

**Author's Note:**

> This work is my contest entry to the wonderful Loknnica's contest "Tell me a story" - a ShikaTema writing contest. The gist of the contest is to choose one of her fanarts and write a fanfiction about the artpiece. I chose the second artwork "Give me your hand". If you want to see the artwork (not necessary for reading this story) and want to read the rules for the contest, head over to Loknnica's tumblr!
> 
> **EDIT 5.4.2020**  
>  **I won the contest! Thank you, Loknnica!**

Shikamaru was always seen as a man of reason. He had the ability to assess his surroundings and make the right choices at the right time. His choices were usually valued by his peers and superiors.

But at some point, that seemed to slowly fall apart.

His choices did not prevent the world from falling into the same spiral of spite and hate and forcing Tailed Beasts into children after the Fourth Ninja War.

His choices did not prevent the nations from turning their backs on each other, keeping the so-called peace shallow and fragile.

His choices in the war did not have any impact at all in the big toxic treadmill of politics and wars and money.

Maybe his choices would’ve made a bigger impact if he had taken on the role as the adviser of the Hokage, like he once envisioned he would do.

Shikamaru was a man of reason. That was probably why he was assigned that faithful mission all those years ago. Denying the mission was not an option. Following orders was the only choice.

Follow the orders to assassinate Temari of the Sand, sister to the Kazekage.

And so Shikamaru travelled to Suna, under the cover of being an ambassador. Temari welcomed him with open arms. They had had an on-off relationship for a year, after all.

Shikamaru felt guilty for telling lies in his letters to Konoha. He never mentioned how Temari had stolen his heart, love and future, and in the haze of being utterly heartbroken by his father’s death and witnessing hundreds of deaths around him and knowing that a new war will come, it felt like heroin to the heart to be surrounded by Temari.

And soon enough, all his fake regret turned into fury. Why was he the one to assassinate Temari, the only one who made him feel alive again? And he made a choice. He could betray Konoha, but never her.

Betraying Konoha was one of the hardest things he had ever done. Integrating into Suna’s society was even harder.

Expecting a baby together was thrilling and scary at the same time. They hadn’t expected to get a baby so soon, and war was looming right behind the corner. The Allied Forces was but a memory and the headlines screamed about nations mobilising and civilians being evacuated as a pre-emptive move.

A cold war broke out. Everyone lived on their toes for years, preparing for the Fifth Ninja War.

Shikamaru could maybe forgive himself for switching sides, for abandoning the Will of Fire and adapting Suna’s saying Strong as a Storm instead. But he could not forgive himself for one thing.

For just watching when Suna’s council made his and Temari’s son Shikadai the newest jinchuuriki of Sunagakure.


	2. I. BRANDED

Yet another sheet of paper to look over and form an opinion on, either accepting or refusing the offer. Which battalion of shinobi should they send to which part of the border, ready to attack when the war breaks out? Who should they send out to die against Konoha’s skilled shinobi? Who would be ready when Kiri comes from the east?

Shikamaru yawned, wishing his colleague’s daughter would shut her mouth. This war was eternal waiting and had been so for the past year and a half. Waiting, and it started to come to the point where the soldiers starved in the trenches. Food was running low, import and export had been cut off since long and the mood of the whole continent was tense.

Suna’s Academy was closed as the teachers were practising the art of war right now, and the colleague had taken with him his daughter to work, in hopes of getting her interested in Suna’s War Programme. It was the only topic on everyone’s lips, after all.

Oh, how Shikamaru wished he could have Shikadai there with him, too.

The daughter kept nattering on and asked a million questions and wanted to draw stars in the corner of the map of Wind Country and Shikamaru couldn’t believe she was twelve when she behaved like a six-year-old. Shikadai would at least have pretended to be interested.

“I’ll check the mail”, his colleague said to his daughter. “Don’t disturb Shikamaru. Look over the battalion routes for me, darling.”

As soon as the man left the room, the girl turned to Shikamaru.

“Hi”, she said.

“Hi”, Shikamaru replied, seeing this as an opportunity to not work. “How do you like your father’s work?”

“Hm, it’s boring”, the girl said. “Do you like it here?”

“Nah”, Shikamaru said. “You do what you have to do even if it’s a drag. I’d rather watch clouds all day, if I got it my way.”

“Clouds?” the girl said. “Where do you watch clouds?”

_Well, not here. No clouds in Suna._

“I was kidding”, Shikamaru said.

The girl looked at Shikamaru for a long time.

“You’re Shikadai’s dad, aren’t you?” she then asked and Shikamaru nodded.

“You’re in Shikadai’s class?”

“Yeah!” the girl said. “I think he’s cool. He does these shadow tricks all the time and he’s really good at math. He corrects the teacher sometimes.” Shikamaru could almost discern a blush on her cheeks. “But Shinki is so overprotective of him.”

Oh, they still have that issue at school, even though they had told Shinki to let other kids play with Shikadai, too. According to Shikadai, no one even wanted to play with him other than Shinki, but maybe he was just too used being the outcast that he didn’t even recognise when someone tried to bond.

“My mum says it’s ‘cause he’s the only one who can help Shikadai if he goes berserk”, the girl continued. “She doesn’t think I should play with him, because he is the jinchuuriki. But I don’t care what mum say.”

As the girl nattered on, Shikamaru’s throat became tighter.

“You know what?” the girl said. “I think mum says a lot of stupid things. She also thinks dad should switch colleague because you’re a Konohan dog and a criminal, she says. But I think you’re cool.”

Shikamaru stared at her, finding himself as loss of words.

“Excuse me?” he managed to say and subconsciously drew his sleeve over his hand, completely covering the branded mark for criminals he had worn on his wrist for thirteen years.

“Dad says you payed your debt”, the girl said.

“Uh”, Shikamaru said. “I think I’ve got to grab a coffee.”

Shikamaru closed the door and walked over to the kitchenette, placing his hands on the table. He remained like that for a while, just wishing that troublesome girl would get the hell out of his office and stop reminding him of all his sins.

The brand for criminals, three thick, horizontal red lines and one vertical black crossing them all, on his left wrist did the job perfectly fine.

Where was his colleague? He would like to punch the man for spilling all his secrets. Of course all his colleagues knew he originally came to Suna as a Konohan spy with the mission to murder their princess, but they also knew he did in fact not finish his mission because he was a sappy fool who had already fallen in love with Temari.

They also knew he once had accepted his incoming execution and the reason he was still alive was Temari cutting the noose off his neck.

“Shikamaru.”

His colleague came into the kitchenette. Shikamaru slammed his hands down on the table before looking up at his co-worker.

“You can keep your big mouth shut next time –“

“Watch your tongue, Shikamaru”, the colleague said. “We just got a weird message from Temari, written in code. I think it’s personal for you.”

The man held out a paper and Shikamaru snatched it from his hands.

“Oh”, Shikamaru said when he saw the message. He folded it carefully and put it in his pocket. “Well, it wasn’t anything important.”

He made himself ready to leave.

“Tell me what is going on”, the colleague said.

“This?“ Shikamaru flipped the paper. “It’s just a game Temari and I have. What? Can’t a man go to the bathroom without having his colleague breathe down his neck?”

“You’re lying”, the colleague said, more firmly. “Lady Temari doesn’t have time to send games to you right now. It’s about him, right? I know the Kazekage made a decision to use him as a bait in River Country – “

“Shut up”, Shikamaru said.

“You are obligated to tell us matters concerning our jinchuuriki”, his colleague said. “I don’t care he’s your son, his life was the payment for yours, Shikamaru. You made a choice. Lady Temari made a choice. Now accept it.”

“Just.… shut up.”

“You may have Temari on your side, but you’re very ignorant if you don’t know what the rest of Suna thinks of you”, his colleague said. “Just because you fucked the Kazekage’s sister doesn’t mean the village likes you. You tried to murder her, yet you two fell in love. I would have never let you live if I was the Kazekage.”

“Then you don’t know Temari that well”, Shikamaru said. “She wouldn’t have let anyone kill me.”

His colleague snorted and lifted his hands into the Ox sign.

It was a painful genjutsu to go through as a punishment for speaking out of line.

In the dark of the shadows Shikamaru left the house he, Temari and Shikadai lived in. He knew the shinobi guarding their house was always more prone to checking his right than his left, so the shadow crept up along his left side and around his neck, strangling the man until he passed out.

He had done all the preparations, emptied the fridge, stored away all their belongings, you name it. The only thing he took with him, except for summoning scrolls containing clothes and blankets for all three, was one shogi piece he had carried with him ever since he left Konoha over a decade ago.

The King.

One of the only ties he hadn’t cut from Konoha.

He had to act carefully. There were trenches everywhere as soon as the desert reached its end after one day’s worth of journey, where the endless pastures and the savannah began in River Country, before the long rivers took over the landscape and slowly changed the nature to the vast forests of Fire Country.

This was the closest he had been Konoha in over a decade. There was no reason to go home after pledging loyalty to Suna.

And now Temari and Shikadai waited for him.

He had studied the maps until they were burned into his memory, he remembered each tent, each trench, each route the battalions were taking.

The ticking bomb of the war between the Five Great Nations was dangerously close to detonation. The world had fallen into ruins and cold wars since the Allied Forces had crumbled to pieces over a ridiculous argument between the Raikage and Hokage and the rest was history.

Sending a spy to Suna to assassinate their princess was Konoha’s first step in declaring war against them since they stole their Tailed Beast back from Konoha's collection for peace, but since Shikamaru’s betrayal they had laid low for a decade. It wasn’t until the news that Shikadai was the jinchuuriki spread that Konoha decided to put an end to it.

Shikamaru found their camp early in the morning, before sunrise. Temari sat by the fire, gaze distant with deep dark circles under her eyes, but her smile was genuine, and it made Shikamaru’s heart warm.

“Hey, troublesome”, he greeted her. “You’ve survived out here?”

Temari rose up and threw her arms around him, almost crushing him. He gripped her around her waist and pulled her so close he possibly could get her. The three weeks they had spent apart felt so long and he drew a deep breath to sense her smell.

She smelled of dirt, sun and salty tears and when Shikamaru opened his eyes again, he was crying.

“Hi, crybaby”, Temari said back to him, smiling a tired smile. “We’re okay. Shikadai is sleeping right now.”

Shikamaru looked over at the sleeping boy under layers of blankets. He moved slowly closer to his son and lifted the blankets just enough so he could look at the enormous claw marks and bruises on his body. Scratches by animal claws, raw and sore on his arms and torso and bruises along the neck as if someone had strangled him.

Shikadai opened his eyes and focused on his father.

“Dad”, he said, and lifted his head. He smiled. “You came.”

“Yes”, Shikamaru said and now his nose started running, to accompany his tears. “Hi, Shikadai. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“It’s okay”, Shikadai said.

“Are you in pain?” Shikamaru asked. “I brought some painkillers with me.”

“I’m just tired”, Shikadai said and let his head heavily fall on the pillow. “Wanna sleep.” He closed his eyes.

“It’s okay.” Shikamaru reached down and placed a kiss on Shikadai’s temple and lifted the blankets to cover him again. “I love you.”

Temari grabbed his hand, embracing firmly her hold of him.

“So, tell me”, Temari said. “Are you under death sentence now?”

“How did Kankuro react to the news?” Shikamaru asked instead of answering.

“He understands”, Temari said. “It’s not his nor Gaara’s fault the village is run by the shadow council. He understands we needed to do this. But understanding didn’t make the goodbye any easier…”

Shikamaru pulled her close. She had lost weight during these three weeks; her hipbones didn’t usually stick out like that. And her jawline wasn’t as sharp like that. And her ribs didn’t usually poke out.

“Oh Temari…” Shikamaru said.

“The poison?” Temari asked. “You’ve got it?”

“Let’s not talk about the poison”, Shikamaru said into her hair. “We’re here, you and me, oh god, how much I missed you. I’ve… I’ve” His voice was shaking. “I’m so sorry.”

“Do you have the poison?”

Shikamaru pressed himself against her, snivelling into her neck because he was so close to break down in tears.

“When I was a kid, I used to dream about having a simple life”, Shikamaru said, stabilising his voice. “I wanted two children, a boy and a girl, and I wanted to just breeze through life, play shogi and watch my children grow up while I grow old with my wife… with you. I never imagined to be the centre piece in a war between Suna and Konoha, on Suna’s side. I never imagined betraying Konoha at all, never in my wildest dreams, but all my plans got ruined and crushed the second the Fifth gave me the mission to assassinate you. I – I… just couldn’t do it. And now our child is suffering – “

“Shikamaru, please, calm down”, Temari said, forcing him to sit down. “The poison is just in case we get caught. But we won’t need to use it. We will make it, please, stop whining now. I’m tired, Shikamaru. So tired.”

Shikamaru snapped out of his worrying.

“Sorry”, he said. “I’m here. Now I won’t ever leave your side again, Temari.”

“You are mine and I am yours”, Temari said and placed a kiss on his lips.

“I am yours and you are mine”, Shikamaru replied. Their wedding vows.

All princesses were supposed to get a royal wedding, a huge banquet with guests from far and wide, delicious food in galore, the whole package.

The Sunese princess got a tiny, private wedding in the basement of the Kazekage’s building. Temari said it had all she wanted, because it had Shikamaru. It had the reason Suna wasn’t throwing the wedding of a lifetime for Temari. The princess of Suna was marrying the Konohan spy who originally was supposed to assassinate her, and such headlines were not supposed to leak.

It would make Suna weak in the other nations’ eyes, them taking in a _mole_ into the royal family.

The council rejected the idea, for many months. All those months Temari spent her free time sitting in the prison with Shikamaru, talking to him, playing games with him. They were in love after all. All those months Temari fought for Shikamaru’s right to live and for her right to choose her own goddamn love life.

It had taken Temari to rush up to the gallows and cut the noose off Shikamaru’s neck for them to understand that she was serious. Finally, they agreed to let Shikamaru stay. On one condition.

Their firstborn was going to be the next jinchuuriki of the Sand.

Within a year of marriage, Temari was pregnant and Shikadai got the demon tanuki sealed inside his body on his fourth birthday.

They never got another child.

“Let’s rest”, Shikamaru said, bringing his hand through Temari’s tangled hair. “Or do you want something to eat? I’ve got cheese and vegetables with me.”

“I want to sleep”, Temari said, looking over at Shikadai. “He has missed you.”

“And I missed him”, Shikamaru said. “And you. Go to sleep, my troublesome. I’ll take the watch.”

“Are you sure?”, Temari said. “You look like you could use some sleep yourself –“

“Temari”, Shikamaru said, kissing the tip of her nose. “Go to sleep. I’ll protect you.”

“Hah”, Temari said. “I don’t need protection.” She kissed him.

After she had fallen asleep, Shikamaru let his hand run across her ribs. How little food had they had the past three weeks?

They can’t keep going on like this.

Shikamaru woke up by the sound of an explosion. He jerked out of the sleeping bag, but he didn’t see anything. Was that the starting signal of the war? The fighting seemed to be out of eyeshot. Shikadai and Temari woke up when the following explosion rang through the surroundings.

“Is Konoha coming for me?” Shikadai asked as he sat up, unable to hide the fear in his eyes.

“We won’t let them take you”, Temari said.

“Let’s move”, Shikamaru said. “The war has begun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ou-ou... What is Konoha gonna do?


	3. II. WOUNDED

“Why do you have your old Konoha vest on you?” Temari asked when they had walked a bit, away from the sound of continuous explosions. She threw a gaze over her shoulder, checking that their son kept up their pace. Shikadai kept himself occupied by kicking rocks with him.

Once they are in safety, Shikamaru will give him the present he had stored in one of the scrolls. A video game console, a game and batteries for at least hundreds of hours game time. Shikadai had wanted that game for a long time, talking about how some boys in his class had it, but they didn’t let him look at it. He had quietly accepted to be the outcast and hung out with Shinki instead, who had gladly taken on the responsibility to be his cousin’s guardian.

“I figured, that if they see me from a distance, they might not attack immediately if I wear their armour”, Shikamaru explained.

“That Nara hair is a dead giveaway”, Temari said.

“I hated it when I had short hair”, Shikamaru said, referring to when Suna’s prison guards used to shave his hair. As soon as he became free, he let it grow out and became surprisingly defensive of his and later also Shikadai’s hairstyles. Another tie he just couldn’t cut from Konoha.

“Give them two seconds and they’ll recognise you.”

“They haven’t seen me in almost fourteen years”, Shikamaru said. “Chances are they’ve forgotten what I look like.”

The first forest towered in front of them. Soon they’ll be in the coverage of trees and brushwood and they can rest a little bit more. Shikadai can drink and sleep, and Temari can just let herself fall into Shikamaru’s arms and let her exhaustion finally release into the ugly cry she had held inside herself for a long time.

But just before the first trees greeted them Shikadai stopped and put his hands over his ears.

“That sound”, Shikadai said. “It hurts my ears.”

“What sound?” Shikamaru asked.

“That… whistle”, Shikadai said. “Shukaku doesn’t like it. He hates it. I hate that whistle. Make it stop, it hurts!”

“What whistle are you talking about, honey?” Temari asked.

“They know we are here”, Shikamaru realised. “Shit! It’s a whistle we can’t hear, but he can! Shukaku can hear the whistle and so can Shikadai. They’re trying to agitate him, to – “ Shikamaru couldn’t let Shikadai break down and release Shukaku, not when they knew their son’s walls were wearing so thin.

In Gaara’s body, Shukaku had stolen him off his sleep and turned him into an insomniac madman while at his lowest point in life, and in Shikadai’s body, Shukaku had turned to hurting him from the inside, causing the scratches and bruises.

Lately, Shikadai had had trouble keeping Shukaku inside and ever since the cold war was slowly turning into active war more pressure and expectations were put on him. He was expected to behave like a weapon and to have perfect chakra control, and everyone in the higher hierarchy had forgotten he was just a twelve-year-old child. Shikadai had turned visibly stressed and Shukaku exploited that weakness in his host. The hurting had become worser.

“Shikadai”, Shikamaru said, trying to get contact to his son, who indeed was close to the breaking point. “Look at me!”

Now when Shikamaru was so close to him he heard the whistle, a high-pitched piercing sound. It consisted of highly concentrated soundwaves aimed straight at Shikadai.

“Protect Shikadai!” Temari shouted and opened her fan. “I’ll kill whoever it is causing that sound.”

“GO!”

Temari spun around at the sound of a stranger and three giant wolves made their way of the forest. Temari made a tornado whirl around them, but the wolves were skilled and one of the three managed to avoid the deadly wind.

A woman with red inverted triangles tattooed on her cheeks exposed herself, throwing a smoke bomb into the clearing.

“She underestimates me, that bitch”, Temari sneered and blew the smoke away. “Shikamaru! Get Shikadai to safety.”

 _Inuzuka Hana,_ Shikamaru recognised. She had probably been assigned as a sensor guard in these parts. Shikamaru pushed Shikadai in front of him into the shadows of the trees and Shikadai just wouldn’t put down his hands from his head. How on earth are the wolves functioning when this sound is crippling Shikadai, but not them?

Then Shikamaru got it. The soundwaves were probably so concentrated and focused on Shikadai that the wolves heard the whistle, but not nearly as piercing as Shikadai did. What jutsu is this, that allowed soundwaves to follow their target and attack them? Shikamaru heard Temari growl like a wolf in the fight against the three ninkens and that was before another Konoha shinobi attacked. Shikamaru’s throat tightened as he recognised the movement of the other kunoichi. A Hyuuga.

Hyuuga Hanabi. Fucking hell, the sensory battalion had found them. They were in Konohan territory now, so no matter how Shikamaru had prepared, he was unable to foreshadow where the Konohan battalions would move. This was not supposed to happen.

“Dad… it _hurts.”_

Shikamaru whipped around and looked with horror at his son. Shikadai lowered his hands and blood dripped out of his ears. Shit, his eardrums had ruptured. Shikamaru must kill the shinobi causing this to Shikadai, before he completely loses himself.

“Shikadai, I’ve got to find –“ Shikamaru tried to say at the same time as Shikadai began to scream, an agonizing scream as the blood from his ears poured down his neck. When he opened his eyes again, they were not his normal teal-coloured eyes, they were sand-yellow and black.

_Whatever I do, this will end badly._

Shikamaru had to make the quick decision to either paralyse Shikadai to stop him from letting Shukaku get all power over him, or to find the shinobi causing this.

He turned around and ran up to Temari and Shikadai let out one final heart-breaking howl before the tanuki tail tore out of his back.

_Shukaku will protect Shikadai, at least physically._

Temari turned her fan and hit one of the wolves in the head, smashing his head open like a watermelon. Hana Inuzuka cursed and yelled like a feral beast at Temari but had no time to prepare a proper attack before Shikadai stumbled out of the forest.

He was almost unrecognisable. The child he was could no longer been seen under fur and crazy eyes, with the tail whipping around behind him. The final form was not yet reached.

“There’s the jinchuuriki!” Hanabi yelled. “Let’s capture him.”

The sound whistle increased in pain in Shikamaru’s ears and Temari turned around to run up to him, to gain some distance from the melee fighting wolves and shinobi so she could attack and at least try to protect Shikadai, to stop him from hurting himself, to do _something._

Temari lifted her fan, swished it behind her back to gain more force and yelled:

“Wind Style! Wind Dragon!”

A new voice broke the whistle in her head before the jutsu had time to activate and a pillar of stone breached the ground at an angle straight at her shin.

_Crack._

The sensation and sound of her shinbone breaking when the stone pillar hit her there with full force rang in Temari’s head.

She fell on her back and was not prepared for the sight when looking down at her leg. The raw, white bone stuck out of the skin, at an angle it certainly was not supposed to be at, and blood had splattered all over her knee and the welt of her dress. The pain was so intense she blacked out for a few seconds after letting out a sigh.

She was not the kunoichi to give up. Not when the life of her son and husband was on the line. But god. The pain from the bone in splinters and tendons ripped out of their normal positions was too much.

_Shikamaru… Shikadai…_

“Temari!” Shikamaru shouted. He had caught the two remaining wolves and Hana in his shadows and was currently in the process of strangling them to unconsciousness, but he had to let go the grip of their throats when Hanabi walked up to Temari.

Shikadai was a bit away from them, still fighting his internal war and seemed to not be paying attention to anything but fighting with Shukaku over the control of his body. Beside him a redhead kunoichi was standing, with chains coming out of her back to suppress the Beast.

 _Oh no, Uzumaki Karin._ The only ninja alive with the powers to chain a Tailed Beast. Even if Shikadai allowed Shukaku to reach the final form, Karin would still manage to overthrow him with force.

Shikamaru felt himself being pulled in two different directions. How the hell can he choose between saving his child or his wife? He’s failing at protecting them, _fuck,_ why can’t he protect the ones he loves?

_Whatever I choose, this will end badly._

Hanabi was standing right by Temari’s side, and while Shikamaru knew they wouldn’t kill Shikadai, he was unsure if they would kill Temari. She was supposed to be dead by assassination, after all. He was supposed to kill her, yet he broke his promise to reason and honour and _fell in love with Temari and got a child he loved so much_ and now Hanabi raised her palm to hit Temari with a Gentle Fist in the chest and kill her –

The shadow reached Hanabi and locked her in place, but by focusing on paralysing her Shikamaru left his back open. He had just enough time to twist his head at the sound of someone approaching and Hana’s closed fist hit him in the face. His nose burst out in a cascade of blood.

Temporarily shocked by the punch in his face he stumbled, and he gasped out of pain when Hana stabbed him in the chest with a kunai. The shadow snapped around Hanabi, who hit him in the chest with her palm. The single painful motion from the Gentle Fist attack threw him like a ragdoll by Temari’s side.

“A traitor and his princess in our territory”, Hanabi said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. She looked over her shoulder, to the blonde kunoichi walking up to them. “Did Karin get the jinchuuriki?”

“Yes”, Ino replied. “She managed to bind him.” She looked down at Shikamaru. “Go and help them. I’ll stay here guarding these two.” Hanabi opened her mouth but before she had time to interject Ino spat: “Go, then!”

Both Hanabi and Hana, and the two wolves walked away. Ino remained towering beside Temari and Shikamaru.

“Ino – “Shikamaru tried. “Please…”

“I’ll let you have a moment”, Ino said, voice totally emotionless.

Shikamaru turned his head over to look at Temari.

_This was not how life was supposed to go._

“Tem?”

_I just wanted to live a happy life with you._

“Shikamaru… They’ve got Shikadai”, Temari whispered.

_I just wanted to protect Shikadai and let him be happy._

“I know”, Shikamaru said. He tried to reach out to her but the pain in his chest was so great that moving his arm was impossible. He was lucky that only the lung seemed to have been punctured, the heart was fine. He coughed up blood. “Give me your hand.”

_In this world, happiness it not possible. I should have known that._

“The poison”, Temari said. “Shikadai needs it…”

_We need it._

Shikamaru tried to haul out the glass bottle from his pocket, but Ino walked up to him and snatched the bottle from his hand. He tried to resist her but when he put pressure on his muscles in the arm his chest spasmed in pain. Ino twisted the bottle in her hand to look at the small capsules inside it.

“Cyanide”, she said. “Death within minutes after one capsule of these, huh? I expected no less from you, Shikamaru. You planned to infiltrate Konoha with your jinchuuriki, and if the mission turned unsuccessful, you’d feast on these? How convenient. And how cowardly.”

Ino put the bottle in her own pocket.

Temari wanted to spit and curse at Ino and she hated how vulnerable they were, she with her leg absolutely destroyed and Shikamaru with stab wound in his lung, but if she moved, she’d probably blackout again and she didn’t want that.

Not when this might be the final time she is looking Shikamaru in the eyes.

Tears found their way over her nose and down the side of her face against her own will.

“I’m so sorry”, she got out.

Sorry for putting Shikamaru in this situation? Sorry for putting Shikadai in this situation? Sorry for not being able to parry the Earth Style Jutsu and getting her leg wrecked?

Sorry for everything. For failing to make their lives work when their entire society hated their marriage and their child. For failing being the best mother and wife out there. For all the mistakes and misjudges she had ever done.

_I’m so sorry._

Shikamaru ignored Ino’s judgemental gaze. For some reason, he was happy Ino had the heart to let them have their moment. They were going to die after all. There was a growing black patch in his vision, and he felt dizzy.

“You are… such a crybaby”, Shikamaru said to Temari and nothing said _I love you_ more than that, in that moment. He forced a smile. Temari laughed at him, her final laugh, with a face wrinkled in pain, as tears continued to slide down her face.

She moved her hand forward, centimetre by centimetre over the grass, until her index finger touched Shikamaru’s thumb. She linked their fingers together.

_I am yours and you are mine. Let's die together._

The last thing Temari felt was how Shikamaru with a final effort grabbed her hand, the last thing she saw was Ino pressing a cloth drenched in chloroform against Shikamaru’s mouth and nose and the last thing Temari heard before Ino pressed the chloroform cloth against her mouth, making her fall unconscious, was Shikadai screaming after his parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the chapter describing the artwork on which this fic was originally based on!
> 
> Here is the link to the tumblr post of the artwork by Loknnica if you want to look at the inspiration for the final scene: https://loknnica.tumblr.com/post/186914931997/this-is-a-remake-of-one-of-my-old-shikatema
> 
> And I've come to realise that damn I love writing battle scenes. Which is maybe not a surprise considering all of my fics contain fight scenes.
> 
> Hehe, sorry for the cliffhanger!


	4. III. IMPRISONED

Waking up again was not something Shikamaru expected to do. It took him a while to understand that he had woken up, because he couldn’t see a thing. The stab in his chest was healed, though still raw. He sat up and still blind felt the chains around his wrist and ankles.

So they chose to remove his eyesight to avoid having him using ninjutsu? There had to be a seal somewhere on his forehead, making him blind. He sat in an eternity still, trying to remember what had happened. He had probably been unconscious for a long time.

“You kept to the tradition”, Ino said and Shikamaru jolted up. “With Shikadai’s name, I mean.”

“How long have you been there?” Shikamaru asked. “Where’s Shikadai? Where’s Temari?”

“Shikadai is okay”, Ino said. She waited in silence before continuing. “Now when I’ve handled him, I keep thinking about what the Ino-Shika-Cho would’ve been with him in it. He’s born the same year as my son.”

“You’ve got a son?” Shikamaru asked. Ino huffed affirmatively. “When you said you ‘handled’ Shikadai, what do you mean by that?”

“We’ve crippled his powers.”

Shikamaru feared mutilated fingers, but just typical to Ino, she read his mind and explained that they hadn’t taken that drastic measures. Yet.

She made herself ready to leave when Shikamaru walked to the door. The chains strained around his wrists as they were attached to the wall behind him.

“Ino, wait! Is Temari okay?” Shikamaru asked.

“Alive”, Ino said. “Temporarily.”

“What?” Shikamaru swallowed. “You can’t – oh no, you can’t execute her.”

Ino said nothing, but her breathing became heavier. Even if Shikamaru couldn’t see, he could feel how close Ino was to him. He grabbed the iron bars separating them and leaned against the cold iron.

“Ino… please.”

“I cried for you”, Ino said. “We thought you were dead. Years later we heard that you _stayed_ in Suna, became one of them and had a child with Temari. Betraying Konoha is one thing, but you betrayed _us._ Choji and me. He was really messed up for a long time, you know. A letter could at least have been nice.”

“They wouldn’t let me send letters to you”, Shikamaru said. “I wanted to, but I was under watching for a long time. Ino, I’m so sorry for everything, I really am.”

“Do you know how heart-breaking this is for me, seeing you here in our prison?” Ino asked. “You were one of my best friends, Shikamaru.”

“Take me to Tsunade”, Shikamaru said. “Please.”

“Your bridges are burned”, Ino said and ran her fingers over the burned criminal mark on Shikamaru’s wrist. “Seems like Suna didn’t like you either.”

Then she left Shikamaru alone.

Shikamaru wasn’t a sensory ninja, but he had during the years learned to sense whenever Shikadai gets upset, because his chakra behaved differently under the influence of his Tailed Beast. During the week that had passed in imprisonment, days of isolation and worrying and him analysing all the mistakes – where it all had gone wrong – to death, he had felt nothing, so when that eerie feeling crawled up his spine when he sensed his son breaking down again, he banged on the iron bars to gain someone’s attention. That someone was usually Ino, as she was Head of Torture nowadays.

Just like today.

“What are you doing to him?” Shikamaru asked. “Please, Ino, don’t give me the cold shoulder again. Don’t hurt him… I can tell you everything, just don’t – don’t hurt him or Temari.”

Ino sighed and pressed her hand against Shikamaru’s forehead. The seal making him blind cracked. For the first time in seven days Shikamaru could see something and it took him some time to focus his gaze before the blur turned into a functioning eyesight.

“Tell me a story”, Ino said. “A story about an assassin and a princess. The story about how you fell in love with her.”

And Shikamaru told her.

Temari was tired. She didn’t know if she ever had been this tired, not even during the first months of having a baby. Days of interrogation, of not getting her leg treated correctly, of hazy, feverish sleep and silent tears staining her cheeks were taking their toll on her.

As a child she heard stories of prisoners and how they were treated, and she learned to fear the situation. That was why they had carried the poison with them in the first place!

When Shikamaru had been in prison in Suna, she fought for his right to have it as comfortable as possible. Too bad he couldn’t return the favour now. What wouldn’t she do for some damn painkillers?

She was so tired from the pain in her leg she didn’t even properly react when she sensed Shikadai in distress. The fighter in her was slowly breaking down and she wanted to sleep, all day and night.

So, when the shinobi in Konohan armour came in and said that her debt was going to be paid she felt a slight relief.

The guiltiest relief in her life.

How cowardly of her. Seeing death as a way out of this suffering when she had a child and a husband who had abandoned everything to be with her.

But Suna shinobi don’t fear death. And neither did she. And if this was the way she was going to go, to be executed in Konoha, then so be it.

“How?” Temari asked when she sat up. The bone in her leg was patched up, but not properly, probably to keep her tame. She could barely walk.

“Beheading”, the shinobi said as he bound her hands behind her back.

“You’ve got a good sword?” Temari asked. The other shinobi didn’t answer.

They walked in Temari’s slow pace into the execution room, where Tsunade was sitting behind a table. She had reigned as Hokage for the last two decades, word said she hated it and was bitter and tired of war. But there she was with all the power in the whole village, and yet she had given the declaration of war.

“Slug princess”, Temari said.

“Weasel princess”, Tsunade acknowledged back. “How’s your leg?”

“Shikamaru told me once your ninja way is healing everyone, even your enemies”, Temari said. “What has the world done to you to make yourself turn against your words? Tsk. Tell me, slug, what are you going to do with Shikadai? And Shikamaru? He’s alive, isn’t he?”

Tsunade looked at Temari and snorted at her.

“What are you going to do to my son?” Temari growled.

“You stole the Beast from us”, Tsunade said. “We had a plan for all the Beasts. A plan for creating world peace, for trying to learn from what the Akatsuki once fought for. And what ungrateful nations we have in this continent. Stealing the Beasts from us. I didn’t imagine your little brother missed One Tail that badly.”

“World domination by having monopole on the Tailed Beasts isn’t world peace!” Temari snarled. She challenged Tsunade with her gaze. “Fuck you and your peace.”

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, staying perfectly still. Trepidation grew in Temari’s stomach as she leaned back, suddenly fearing for what Konoha might plan.

“You’re… you’re not going to remove Shukaku from him, right?”

Tsunade said nothing.

“Shikadai is just a child!” Temari said. Her heart was throbbing hard in her chest. _Why can’t I protect my child? Why am I a failure of a mother?_ “Don’t punish him for my sins.”

“For your _and_ Shikamaru’s sins”, Tsunade said, tasting her power over Temari. “We won’t rip the Beast out of him, don’t worry. He is here for safekeeping. Can’t promise he’ll see much sunlight, though.”

Temari’s gaze fell on the table.

“Please let Shikamaru live”, Temari said. “I beg you. Don’t let Shikadai go through this alone.”

“I am fascinated by your attempt to escape war” Tsunade said. “But it would’ve been smarter for you to take the route by sea instead of land. But One Tail hates water and you wanted to protect Shikadai from his wrath. Which is why you walked through Fire Country, right into our claws. Has Shikamaru grown stupid in the desert?”

Temari lifted her head, now looking Tsunade straight in her eyes. Part of her wanted to spit in Tsunade’s face, but she didn’t want to put Shikadai in unnecessary danger.

“The second word reaches Suna that you’ve murdered me and taken Shikadai hostage hell will be unleashed”, Temari said.

“I’m prepared”, Tsunade said and lifted the sword by her side and pointed it towards Temari. It almost touched her nose. “You have everything to lose, princess. Talk.”

And Temari spoke.

She told them the story of their child, the jinchuuriki of the Sand, Shikadai, whose last name could have been Nara, but it wasn’t because Shikamaru had been stripped off that name since long.

There are happy stories, there are tragic stories, there are bittersweet stories, which leave the taste of dirt on the teller’s tongue and what all these stories have in common is the fact that they all end at some point.

And like all stories, even this one came to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cleverest thing about the "Author chose not to use archive warnings"- warning, is that there might be a major character death hidden in there, but there might also just be graphic description of violence. You never know....


	5. IV. LOVED

Ino should know better than anyone what it means to be in love. The amounts of prisoners she had tortured and dug answers out of since the peace shattered into a cold war, let her know how easy it was to get whatever information you want as soon as you threaten the one the interrogated person loves.

But despite all, under the cold exterior she had worn since the cold war broke out, Ino had a heart and while listening to Shikamaru’s story she realised that whatever he had done, he had done it for Temari. For love.

He never wanted to become a shinobi in the first place when he was a child. He wanted an ordinary life, to live a simple life with the one he loved. And when the one he loved was supposed to die by his hand, he chose to betray shinobi code instead.

“You know I’m committing treason for your lazy ass, right?” Ino said as she unchained Shikamaru. She let out a chuckle. “Oh god, this is so ironic. We’ve been sided against Suna for years and now I’m helping you.”

Shikamaru followed her through the corridor.

“Thank you”, Shikamaru said.

“I’ll let you know a little secret”, Ino said. “I rooted for you two back when we were younger. I wanted you and Temari to get together. Funny how you became a couple for hell of a high price.” They walked in silence. “Still got your sharp tongue? You’ll need it.”

Shikamaru nodded.

“I wished things were different”, Ino said. “Maybe you and Temari could’ve lived here? Shikadai would’ve been part of the trio and everyone would be happy.”

“This world is not made for happiness”, Shikamaru said. “Thank you, Ino. I can’t ever repay you enough.”

Ino didn’t answer. She opened the following door and –

Temari was leaning over a table of wood, hands bound behind her back and neck exposed to make the chop as clean as possible for the butcher and his sword swung through the air to separate Temari’s head from her shoulders and Shikamaru reached out a hand and the shadow stormed along the floor but he was too far away from them and it was too late.

 _No!_ The word didn’t even manage past his lips and all warmth disappeared in a microsecond of a flash from his body. _No, Temari, no, please, I don’t want to see you die–_

The shadow reached.

It seemed to have gone against the law of physics, the way the shadow in the final second grabbed the headsman’s foot and Shikamaru threw himself a step to the side, dragging the butcher with him in the shadow’s grasp. The sword smashed against the table.

Temari’s head shot up.

“Shikamaru!”

It wasn’t before Tsunade came up to him and punched him that he understood that both Temari and she had been shouting his name at the same time.

“Lady Tsunade, let me explain – “ Ino tried.

“If I was as sentimental of you, I would have seen my own demise a long time ago”, Tsunade snarled to Ino. “This shinobi life is _not_ for love, it’s _not_ for personal goals. This life consists of following order and if you’re not ready to bear that responsibility, then run away. Run away like Shikamaru once did. We are at war, behave like it.”

“Fuck your war”, Shikamaru said and spat blood from his mouth. His hands were still in the Rat sign to prevent the butcher from finishing his job. “The preparations for this war sent me to Suna in the first place.”

Tsunade turned to Shikamaru, her golden eyes burning at him.

“And you didn’t follow the order.”

“You asked me to murder the one person I was in love with!” Shikamaru said. “I tried, Tsunade. Five times. And – “

“Five times?” Temari had turned her body towards the other three. Shikamaru let the headsman go of the Shadow Possession. He didn’t move. “You failed… five times?”

“Every time”, Shikamaru continued. “I had everything planned out, but each time… I just couldn’t do it, Temari. And I chose to stay.” Shikamaru rose from the floor, daring Tsunade with his gaze. “Yes, Lady Hokage. I became one of them. And yes, it hurt me deeply to betray Konoha. But I didn’t do it out of spite.”

He walked over to Temari and laid a hand on her shoulder.

“I did it for her. And you have to go through me before you kill her.”

“Shikamaru…” Temari whispered. “Shikadai needs you – “

Shikamaru tensed his grip around her shoulder.

“Troublesome, let me protect you for once.”

_Let me protect you like you’ve saved me so many times already. Please, let me save you._

“I did not expect a Nara to be so prone to sappy emotions”, Tsunade snorted. “Clearly I was expecting too much of you.” She nodded towards the butcher. “Kill them both.”

“No”, Ino said. “We can’t risk having the jinchuuriki going berserk. They’re his parents.”

“Do you think I want to send out shinobi after shinobi to die in vain?” Tsunade asked. “Keeping a jinchuuriki away from being used as a weapon by the enemy side does not require his parents coddling him, he is – what – twelve years old already.”

Ino took a bold step in front of Shikamaru and Temari.

“Yamanaka, last chance or you’re committing treason”, Tsunade said and looked over at the headsman again. “Kill them.”

Shikadai put the piece of fruit in his mouth and chewed. It felt funny in his mouth.

“What colour is it?” he asked the other boy who had during the week in blindness and captivity sneaked down every day into the dungeons. At first he had claimed to break the rules himself, but he later admitted that it was his mum letting him in and out all the time.

“Yellow”, Inojin answered. “Do you like it?”

“It’s sweet”, Shikadai said, feeling the fruit in his mouth. “And very squishy. What is it called?”

“Banana.”

“Oh, _this_ is a banana? I imagined it totally differently”, Shikadai said. “We almost never had fruits. Or I did not, at least.”

“I still can’t believe you’ve never had a banana before”, Inojin said.

“That’s because Konoha shut off all export to us years ago”, Shikadai said. “So… no bananas. We got plums from Grass Country, but that’s the only fruit I’ve ever had.”

He finished the banana and sat up. The heavy ball and chain that was connected to his neck weighted down and he felt for the pillars of wood, the pillars for suppressing the powers of a Tailed Beast. Walking in blindness came second nature by now. Luckily his ruptured eardrums had been healed, giving him back most of his hearing. When he first arrived, he had been both blind and almost deaf, and that had been frightening.

“Are you still there, Inojin?” he asked.

“Shikadai”, Inojin said. “You know my mum can talk in people’s heads? She just spoke to me… I’ve got to do something.”

“Like what?” Shikadai leaned against the iron bars.

“It’s funny, how we're supposed to be enemies”, Inojin began. “Your dad was my mum's friend a long time ago. I pity you…”

“What is going on?” Shikadai asked.

“Your mum is going to be killed very soon”, Inojin said.

“What?” Just that simple word seemed to be impossible to get out.

Life as a jinchuuriki meant isolation for most parts. He had his parents, uncles and Shinki as support, but the list pretty much ended there. Shikadai couldn’t imagine a life without his parents, without mum, not now, not when he’s just twelve and still unable to fully control Shukaku, not when he is captured by the enemy, not ever –

“Why?”

_Why did this happen to me? Why me, why mum, why dad? Why was dad a spy and mum a princess, why did my life have to be a pawn in a lifetime of war?_

_Why, why, WHY?_

**_She’ll die, you say,_** Shukaku purred inside him. **_You want revenge, Shikadai. Let’s go up there and make some noooise! Let me go free!_**

“But – but!” Inojin said quickly. “There’s still some time. Wait here.”

Shikadai heard Inojin leaving and he smashed his forehead against the iron bars.

“Inojin! What do I need to do?” he yelled but received no answer.

Angry, scared, imprisoned and stripped of dignity Shikadai sank down on his knees.

**_Come on, boy! This is just what you need. Let’s rip out these wooden pillars and dance all night long with their heads._ **

_What am I going to do…? What would dad do? Focus… Focus!_

He was just about to cry when someone came in and opened the door to the cell.

“Shikadai! Run!” the man who had opened the door said. “Follow the corridor and take left as soon as you feel it turns. My body is there, but you must hurry. I can’t hold him any longer!”

Shikadai stumbled out of the cell, the ball and chain around his neck strangling him and he _had to_ let Shukaku lend him power. Because he was now outside the pillars, he could finally use the Beast chakra and break the metal collar he had worn like an animal around his neck. Still blind he ran inside the corridor and he felt Inojin grab his arm.

“If we run, we might make it”, Inojin said while he pulled Shikadai with him.

“Why are you helping me?” Shikadai asked. “We’re enemies – “

“Because mum said you could’ve been my teammate if things were different”, Inojin said. “I don’t want to be your enemy. Let me try to remove the seal. Mum told me the signs for it.”

Inojin touched Shikadai’s forehead and he felt an ice-cold sensation as the seal on his forehead, the seal keeping him blind, was removed. Shikadai blinked and stared at his saver. He had imagined Inojin to look differently.

“Who was that man?” Shikadai asked. “Your jutsu is possessing people, right?”

“Hm”, Inojin said and pressed his hand harder around Shikadai’s wrist. The cuts on his wrist had been healed. Konoha had many healers. “We’ll go down the sewers. You can get out that way and I’ll show you the way out of Konoha and – “

Shikadai stopped abruptly.

“We have to save my mum!” he said.

“But _she_ is there!” Inojin said. “If you go there, she’ll get you. Our Hokage. I’m helping you escape.”

“Inojin, please, where is my mum?” Shikadai begged. “It’s my fault we got caught in the first place, I must save her!”

Inojin hesitated but gave in and grabbed his arm again and yanked him with him. They went up some stairs and went through another corridor.

“Okay, you have to deal with this on your own from now on”, Inojin said. “Just know… just know that if you ever need help in Konoha… I’ll help you if I can. And my friend Chocho would maybe help you too.”

“Who’s Chocho?” Shikadai asked. Inojin opened his mouth but closed it again.

“Good luck”, he just said. “That’s the door.”

“Thank you so much”, Shikadai said and Inojin ran away down the corridor, leaving him there.

Shikadai opened the door just in time to see Shikamaru hovered over Temari, as if to protect her from their doom. Ino had taken a step back and the butcher had the sword in position. A single clean cut will do the job.

“Don’t hurt them!” Shikadai shouted.

 ** _Come on boy, let me free!_** Shukaku twisted and turned inside his body.

“Shikadai!” Shikamaru yelled in unison with Temari.

“Who let the jinchuuriki free?” Tsunade growled.

**_It’s you and me, Shikadai. Let’s slaughter them!_ **

When you are a jinchuuriki, created to serve the very nation who cursed you, the few supporters mean the world to you.

When your parents are one of the few treating you with respect and love, you will want to save them from the enemy.

When the whole world is against your family you will want to protect them from harm.

Even if it means killing.

_Yes, Shukaku. Let’s save them._

Shikadai’s eyes turned once again, this time by his own will, black and sand-yellow and the tail broke out of his back.

“I said, don’t _hurt **them**!”_

Once upon a time Temari saved Shikamaru from the noose in Suna.

Then Shikamaru saved Temari from the blade in Konoha.

And finally, Shikadai used his curse to save both his parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am weak for Ino & Shika-friendships, WEAK! I just had to throw in a Shikadai & Inojin-friendship there, too.


	6. V. SAVED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, Loknnica, once again for creating such beautiful art and for hosting this contest!

Temari was always seen as a woman of reason. She could always be trusted to put away her emotions and let the mission go before everything else. Or, well. That was before her whole world was turned upside down. Before the man she loved was thrown in prison with a death sentence. Before Tailed Beasts were enslaved again and one of them was forced into her toddler.

Life turned out so differently than she had imagined after she saved the criminal who could’ve been her murderer, but they had made it work, somehow, even though they knew war was inevitable. They wanted _so badly_ to believe that what they had done had been the right thing after all. 

The reality wasn’t as flattering as they wanted it to seem.

Shikamaru and Temari had lost the battle against Konoha’s sensory guards. They had laid side by side in the grass, with a stabbed chest and a destroyed leg, looking at each other as what they believed to be death crept up to them. In that moment, they had certainly not looked fondly back at their lives; they had looked back with regrets.

Finding love was, however, never one of those regrets.

But the cost of love was sometimes way too high.

“Run Shikadai!”

Shikadai tried to charge for the door after his parents at the same time as the words _Wood Style!_ echoed through the air and two strong, bendy pillars closed around his body and pressed hard. The pillar bent around his chest and neck and Shukaku let out a tired sigh before falling asleep, when his powers suffocated.

“Mum! Dad!” Shikadai got out.

He couldn’t breathe. The pillar pressed around his throat and it just wouldn’t budge.

_My life was payment for dad’s after all. Maybe this was my destiny after all… to sacrifice myself… for them…_

His body was panicking so hard he couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. His vision grew black.

_I can't breathe... I can't breathe!_

It was that moment when Yamato maybe pressed a little too hard with his pillars of wood against Shikadai’s throat and he didn’t notice it until Shikadai’s larynx burst.

Ino was the first one to realise the danger in the situation.

“Yamato, _stop!_ ” she screamed and the second the pillars released Shikadai she was there to embrace his limb body, one step ahead of Shikamaru and Temari. She pressed a hand pouring in turquoise medical chakra against Shikadai’s throat, where the bruise from the internal bleeding grew by the second in purple-red colours. She looked up, past Shikamaru and Temari and straight at Tsunade. “You swore to not hurt him! You promised! Now heal him. _Save him,_ Tsunade!”

They had less than three minutes. Less than three minutes to heal Shikadai's larynx, before the lack of oxygen would inflict brain damage and kill him.

Ino laid Shikadai down on the floor, still not letting her palm leave his throat. Temari moved quickly over to his head, stroking his hair and forehead. He looked up at her, gaze screaming _Mum, I can't breathe, I don't want to die, help me!_

"Shikadai, I'm here, don't panic..." 

“Move!” Tsunade pushed Shikamaru away from Shikadai and pressed her hands against his throat. “Damn you all. Damn you! Let’s do something about this.”

“Fight, my baby, fight”, Temari said to Shikadai, voice shaking because she herself didn't believe he would survive. Her child is dying in her grasp.

“Oh god, this isn’t happening”, Shikamaru said, holding the hand of his son, when Shikadai opened his mouth to say something and blood instead of words came out of it. 

In that moment, there were no enemies in that room. There were no Suna versus Konoha in a bloody war, no conflicts, no betrayals nor executions. There were only two medics and two parents trying to save a twelve-year-old child from a way too early and traumatic death.

Healing organs is never easy.

But somehow, doing the impossible is sometimes possible.

“Doesn’t that cloud look like a bunny to you?” Shikamaru pointed at one of the bigger clouds in the sky.

“Yeah”, Shikadai said.

His vocal cords had been saved, and his voice had returned after a month of intensive care. It sounded differently from what it had before his larynx had been crushed, but it worked. Being unable to swallow anything yet, he was given nutrients through a tube in his nose, leading to his stomach instead. Imagine taking swallowing for granted. Shikadai didn't take it for granted anymore.

Thanks to his Beast Chakra, he was healing faster than a normal human being. At first, everyone feared he would never be able to eat normally, or talk ever again and he had even started to learn sign language because the prognose was so bad. But against all odds, he was healing.

“And that one looks like a snake”, Shikadai said and pointed at another cloud.

“How long are you going to be looking at the clouds?” Temari asked. “I’m already bored.”

“How? This is so relaxing”, Shikadai said and sat up. He looked at the ANBUs assigned to guard them 24/7. “Don’t you agree?”

“For me, you could be staring at them all day”, one of them said. “Makes our job easier.”

Since the day Shikadai had burst into the execution room, Tsunade had changed her mind. Temari wasn’t executed, neither was Shikamaru, and Shikadai didn’t have to be chained in a dungeon. Suddenly truce and peace seemed to be a solution to the war instead of bloodshed.

They were still prisoners, that didn’t change, but they were free from harm.

“So, what do you want to do?” Shikamaru asked Shikadai. “We can visit your grandma again, if you want.”

“Later”, Shikadai said. “I want to look at the clouds a little bit longer.”

And so the family laid in the grass, similarly to how Shikamaru and Temari had laid side by side, wounded and tearful, only the difference was that they were slowly healing and they had the greatest love of their life, their son Shikadai, in between them.

Shikamaru and Temari’s relationship was one of the starting points of the war.

And funnily enough, their love was also what ended the war.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The working title of this work was originally "We were once parents" (guess who was going to die but I changed the ending hehe).
> 
> One day I will write a fanfic where Shikadai isn't tortured, I swear.
> 
> Whoah, this was a fun take. To participate in the contest the work had to be less than 10k words long, so I really had to work with the less is more- insight, and a lot of the editing consisted of cutting and compressing lines and sentences, leaving most of it to the readers to fill in the gaps. Hopefully I did a good job with that.
> 
> Thank you for reading, commenting and leaving kudos. 
> 
> I know this story was reaaaallly angsty, but hopefully you liked it! Let me know what you thought :)
> 
> **Announcement!  
>  **Coming March the 1st 2020: Trial of the Heart  
>  ****
> 
> As you probably all noticed, there was a lot to unpack and a lot left unsaid in this piece and I became pretty fond of the setting, meaning **I will write a prequel about Shikamaru and Temari's relationship and Shikadai's childhood as a jinchuuriki** (and possibly also later events after this story!). My ambitions are pretty high, I aim for a long story (about 100k).
> 
> Hopefully you all want to read the longer version too, which I promise won't be as angsty as this one!
> 
> **Trial of the Heart is now uploaded on my user!**

**Author's Note:**

> This piece consists of six relatively short chapters, and I will upload a new chapter every day.


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